steal · 偷

Thief, Victim, Theme · marking by lemma · Chinese cloth · working claim, revisable

Voice[Thief] + low Appl(Victim) + complement of the root (Theme)

偷 · Theme direct object · 重編國語辭典 偷錢 · 偷東西 · or 被-subject · 第7版 钱包被人偷去了

偷 · person 的 on the Theme · English Wiktionary 她的皮夹子 · 我们的钱被偷了

抢劫 · Theme object 财物 · definition 把别人的东西 · 拦路抢劫 fills no object

盗 · place as 被-subject · 第7版 昨天夜里仓库被盗了 · Theme unfilled

A theft, on this reading, has a Thief, a Victim, and a Theme. They are not three equal sisters of one Mandarin verb. Voice adds the Thief. Low Appl introduces the Victim, as a possessor-source inside the verb’s domain: the person who had the thing and no longer has it. That is the same kind of added argument as the dative Victim on stehlen, the indirect Victim on robar, the dative Victim on voler, the у-phrase of украсть, the a-phrase of rubare, the の possessor of 盗む, the bare dative of kraść, the ablative of rabol, the bare indirect of ontstelen, the fra-phrase of stjele, and the dative clitic of крада. It is a working drawing. It is not a settled analysis. The root’s complement is the Theme, the thing taken. A noun shows no case ending. 的 is the marker on the noun. 被 and 把 are coverbs. 帕特 and 克里斯 continue the named-participant series on 借.

What the seventh edition prints for 偷. The headword is 偷 (媮), tōu. Sense 1 is 〈动〉私下里拿走别人的东西，据为己有, examples ～窃 and 钱包被人～去了. Read with the headword filled in, the clause is 钱包被人偷去了. The wallet is the subject of 被. The agent after 被 is generic 人. 去 is the complement. The line prints no 从, no 向, no 跟, and no 的 on 钱包. Sense 2 is the noun, 指偷盗的人, examples 惯偷 and 小偷儿. Sense 3 is the adverb 瞒着人, examples 偷看, 偷听, 偷渡, and 偷跑. Sense 4 is sparing time, 抽出（时间）, examples 偷空儿 and 忙里偷闲. Sense 5 is 苟且敷衍，只顾眼前, example 偷安. Senses 2–5 stay off the wallet.

What is different from the English gloss, from Japanese の against から, from Russian у against из, and from Bulgarian ми against от. English Wiktionary prints the source of steal in from (stolen from the gallery, stolen from us, They stole all my money (from me)). One English preposition covers the person and the place. 盗む prints の on the Theme for the person and から for the place or the container. украсть prints у plus genitive for the person and из plus genitive for the place. крада prints dative ми beside the honey and от for the threshing floor. The articles opened here do not print that split on 偷. The printed person beside the Theme is 的 on the noun. English Wiktionary prints 扒手偷了她的皮夹子跑了 and 我们的钱被偷了. 她的 and 我们的 sit on the thing. 跑了 is a serial verb after the theft clause. A 从-phrase of a shop, a bag, or a till is unprinted on 偷 in the seventh edition, in the 新华字典 short entry, in 重編國語辭典, in CC-CEDICT, and on the English Wiktionary article. 向 and 跟 plus a person beside a Theme are unprinted on these theft articles. On 借 the seventh edition prints 向 and 跟 of the source, and 从 is unprinted there as well.

What 偷窃, 偷盗, and 盗窃 print. Seventh-edition 偷窃 tōuqiè is 〈动〉盗窃. No example and no frame. 偷盗 tōudào is 〈动〉偷窃；盗窃, example ～财物. The goods are the Theme. 盗窃 dàoqiè is 〈动〉用不合法的手段秘密地取得, examples ～犯 and ～公物. 公物 is the Theme. The wording is the formal one. No person, no 从, and no 被 are in those examples. English Wiktionary’s 偷窃 glosses “to steal; to commit theft; to pilfer” and prints no Chinese clause. CC-CEDICT glosses 偷, 偷盗, 偷窃, and 盗窃 as steal, and prints no clause.

What 抢 and 抢劫 print, against derubare and berauben. Seventh-edition 抢劫 qiǎngjié is 〈动〉用暴力把别人的东西夺过来，据为己有, examples ～财物 and 拦路～. The definition has 把 plus 别人的东西. 把 fronts the Theme. The person is 别人的 inside that Theme. The example object is 财物. 拦路抢劫 fills no object. 抢夺 qiǎngduó is the companion on the same page of the dictionary: 〈动〉用强力把别人的东西夺过来, example ～财物. The same 把 is in the definition, and the example object is again the thing. It stays a note. The 新华字典 short entry of 抢 qiǎng, as 汉典 prints the 基本解释, is 夺，硬拿, examples ～劫 and ～夺. No person, no bank, and no Theme clause are in those two examples. English Wiktionary’s 抢 sense “to snatch away” prints 抢钱, glossed “to rob someone of their money.” The Chinese object is 钱. The English gloss adds “someone.” The passive line is 我的手机被抢走了. The phone is the subject of 被. The agent is unfilled. 走 is the complement. English Wiktionary’s 抢劫 glosses “to rob; to mug” and prints no Chinese clause. derubare puts the person in the direct object and the thing in di. berauben puts the person in the accusative and the thing in the genitive. обирам puts the person or the place in the object. The 抢劫 lines opened here keep the thing as the object, or they leave the object out. A person or a bank as the object of 抢 or 抢劫 is unprinted in those articles. The seventh-edition article of the single character 抢 was not opened.

What 盗, 扒窃, and 偷走 print. Seventh-edition 盗 dào sense 1 is 〈动〉偷, examples ～窃, 偷～, 欺世～名, 监守自～, and 昨天夜里仓库被～了. Read with the headword filled in, the clause is 昨天夜里仓库被盗了. The warehouse is the subject of 被. The Theme is unfilled. The agent is unfilled. That is the place the articles promote, and it is not a 从-phrase. 欺世盗名 and 监守自盗 stay off the purse. Sense 2 is the noun, 强盗. English Wiktionary marks some senses of 盗 “obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese” and prints the verb as transitive “to steal,” with 大量财物被盗. The property is the subject of 被. No agent. 扒窃 páqiè is 〈动〉从别人身上偷窃（财物）. 从别人身上 is in the definition. 财物 is parenthetical. No clause. The person is not the object. 扒手 is the noun of the same 从别人身上. English Wiktionary glosses 扒窃 “to steal from people’s pockets; to pickpocket.” The “from” is the English gloss. No Chinese example. CC-CEDICT glosses 扒 pá with “to steal” among other glosses, and 扒窃 as “to steal / to pick pockets,” and prints no clause. The neighbour 夺 prints 从歹徒手里夺过凶器. 从 there is a person’s hand, and the weapon is the Theme. That 从 is on 夺, not on 偷. English Wiktionary’s 偷走 prints 我的车被小偷偷走了. The car is the subject of 被. The agent after 被 is 小偷. 走 is the complement. The frame is the 被 frame of 偷. A second sense, 他一看见我就偷走了, is running off. 偷走 is not a CC-CEDICT headword, and the seventh-edition 偷 article prints 偷去, not 偷走. The complement is morphology. It is not a fourth argument, and this page makes no telicity claim. 偷走 is not a new page.